Genesis 2.15-17-The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Wednesday August 17, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 2:15-17-The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Lesson # 11

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 2:8.

This evening we will study Genesis 2:15-17 and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We pick it up in context with Genesis 2:8.

Genesis 2:8, “The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.”

Genesis 2:9, “Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:10, “Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.”

Genesis 2:11, “The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.”

Genesis 2:12, “The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.”

Genesis 2:13, “The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.”

Genesis 2:14, “The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”

Genesis 2:15, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”

“Put” is the verb nuach (j^Wn), which in the hiphil (causative) stem means that the Lord caused Adam to “settle down” in this garden located in land of Eden and refers to the fact that the Lord was establishing this garden to be his home.

This word indicates that the Lord had a specific geographical location that He wanted Adam to be in order to serve Him.

The “geographical” will of God refers to where God wants us to be in order to serve Him.

The book of Jonah teaches us the consequences of not being in the specific geographical location that the Lord has ordained for us.

“Cultivate” is the verb `avadh (db^u*), which is in the infinitive construct form and preceded by the preposition le (lamed) denotes the first “purpose” for which the Lord caused Adam to settle down in the garden of Eden, which was to “work” the garden.

“Keep” is the verb shamar (rm^v*), which is in the infinitive construct form and is preceded by the preposition le (lamed) denotes the second “purpose” for which the Lord caused Adam to settle down in the garden of Eden, namely, to “take care of” this garden.

Adam was to serve the Lord in the garden by working it and take care of it in a stewardship capacity for the Lord.

Genesis 2:15 teaches that the Lord gave Adam work to do and was not simply always reclining in a hammock drinking a beer or having a class of wine.

Work was originally designed by the Lord to be a blessing for man but after the Fall, it became a curse (Gen. 3:17-19).

Genesis 3:17, “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”

Genesis 3:18, “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field.”

Genesis 3:19, “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Believers are commanded in the New Testament to work.

Ephesians 4:28, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.”

Believers are commanded to do their work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men.

Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”

Genesis 2:16, “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely.’”

“You may eat freely”: (1) Qal infinitive absolute complement form of the verb `akhal (pronounced: aw-kal) (2) 2nd person masculine singular qal imperfect form of the verb `akhal.

The infinitive absolute stands before the finite verb of the same root in Genesis 2:16 in order to intensify the certainty or force of the verbal idea, thus indicating that the Lord commanded Adam that he could eat from “absolutely” any tree in the garden.

Genesis 2:17, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a literal tree.

There was nothing inherently evil about the tree since the Lord created it but rather it was Adam and the Woman’s attitude towards the Lord’s prohibition attached to the tree, which was evil.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the only tree in the garden that had a prohibition attached to it, which indicates that the Lord wanted to test the obedience of Adam.

The fact that the tree was named the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” indicates that evil was already in God’s creation and that there was a rival kingdom in God’s creation, namely, Satan.

Evil is independence from God as a result of disobedience to His commands.

“Good” refers to obedience to God’s will whereas “evil” refers to that which is disobedient to God’s will and is independent of Him.

According to Genesis 3:22, as a result of disobeying the Lord and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and his wife, like God, were able to “distinguish” between that which is according to God’s will and that which was not.

Genesis 3:22a, “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.’”

Therefore, if Adam and his wife never ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would have never experienced evil and the distinction between what is according to God’s will and what is not.

By eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and his wife and their children were brought into bondage to Satan and his kingdom whereas if they obeyed the Lord and did not eat from this tree, they would have been free in the truest sense meaning they would be free to serve God exclusively.

Eating from the tree of life would not have given Adam eternal life, which is the very life of God but rather would have perpetuated the life of his physical body since the soul is created to live forever and according to Genesis 3:22, eating from this tree results in living forever.

Genesis 3:22b, “and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.”

Eternal life is received as a gift of God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone (Jn. 3:16-18; Eph. 2:8-9).

Therefore, eating from the tree of life would not give Adam eternal life.

According to Revelation 22, the tree of life will be present in the New Jerusalem providing believers greater capacity to enjoy the blessings of the eternal state in their resurrection bodies.

Adam and his wife never did eat from the tree of life since their physical bodies experienced decay after disobeying the Lord and did not live forever.

But, it appears that Adam and his wife were totally occupied with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because it was the only tree in the garden with a prohibition attached to it.

Genesis 2:17, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

“You will surely die”: (1) Qal infinitive absolute complement form of the verb muth (pronounced: mooth) (2) 2nd person masculine singular qal imperfect form of the verb muth.

The infinitive absolute stands before the finite verb of the same root in Genesis 2:17 in order to intensify the certainty or force of the verbal idea, thus indicating that the Lord warned Adam that if he disobeyed the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would “surely” die spiritually.

So to the English speaking person this construction literally means, “dying, you shall die” but to the Hebrew mind, it simply means, “you shall surely die.”

When the Lord said to Adam that he would “surely die” if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Lord meant that he would enter into “real spiritual death,” which is separation from God and does “not” mean he would die physically since Adam lived to be 930 years old according to Genesis 5:5.

Genesis 3:6, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

Genesis 3:8, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

Not only did God tell Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but also He told him why, which is that he would die spiritually meaning he would be separated from God for his disobedience.

The fact that the Lord told Adam why he cannot eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil demonstrates God’s love and concern for Adam and that He had his best interests in mind.

The Lord put the tree of life right beside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order to give Adam and his wife a choice between Himself and Satan, between His will or against it, dependence upon Him for independence from Him.

To eat of the tree of life was to choose to live under God’s authority in dependence upon Him whereas to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to choose not live under God’s authority in independence from Him.

Satan desires to live independently of his Creator and believes he is justified in doing so and to disobey the Lord’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was tantamount to agreeing with Satan.

God permitted Adam to rebel and disobey Him, like He did with Satan in order that He might manifest His great grace and love for His both men and angels.

If Adam and Satan never rebelled against God, angels and men would never know the depths of God’s grace and love for them since grace is for the undeserving and His love is able to love those who are His enemies.

The prohibition indicated that Adam was a free moral agent meaning he had the freedom to either obey or disobey God’s will and just as God did not hide from Adam the consequence of disobedience, neither did He hide away the tree of the knowledge of good and evil itself.

God wants us to obey Him because we love Him and not because we are forced to do so.

The fall of Adam and the fall of Satan gave God an opportunity to treat both men and angels in grace and love so that they might have a reason to love and obey Him and not because they have to avoid being punished, even though a holy God has every right to demand obedience from His creatures and punish them for obedience.

God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him.

The fact that God did not immediately deposit Satan and Adam in the lake of fire for their disobedience is incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures and desires none of them to go to the lake of fire.

The fact that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being to satisfy His righteous demands that the sin of angels and men be judged is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures.

The fact that God the Son became a human being and suffered not only physically but also died spiritually for both men and angels is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures.

Therefore, God is not responsible for any of His creatures going to the lake of fire for failing to comply to the standards of His holiness but rather, men and angels are responsible for their own doom since God did everything He could to prevent their suffering forever and ever in the lake of fire.